Full Summary: Valentine Carmin has to fight to survive this new world. Only seventeen years old and now a soldier, in a war to protect her world from aliens. Her family died long ago and all she has left is the resistance and the Mason Family, who took her in after the world ended.
Sage Matthews' life before the invasion had involved a father always going in and out of a jail and a druggie mother who often abused him. Now years after the invasion Sage is abused still by his uncle, while also trying to survive the aliens. What happens when he comes across the Mason Family?
This is their story as the sky falls.
Valentine's family died during the first month of the invasion. Valentine only got away by the fact that the aliens were distracted by her family. For the next few months, Valentine got herself familiarized with a gun. That was when the Masons found her. She was scared, starving, dehydrated, and holding a gun so tight in her hand that her knuckles were white.
Tom Mason took Valentine in as his own, raised her to be both a soldier and his daughter. Now it's been a few years and Valentine fights along side Tom and his oldest son Hal.
Valentine holds her rifle close to her as she runs down the alleyway. Hal is front of her, while Tom is behind her. Valentine is seventeen now and is well shaped due to the years of killing aliens and running around for supplies.
Valentine has grown up faster than most due to the years of hardship in her life. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, her body covered in black clothes to keep her hidden, her brown eyes taking in everything around her. She has a black long sleeved shirt on with her favorite black leather jacket over it, a pair of black skinny jeans, and black combat boots on.
"Hold on," Tom whispers as they come to the end of the alleyway. He places a hand over Valentine's, while Hal scans the area ahead. "Go," Tom says as he pushes Valentine and Hal. The two run with Tom behind them and heading into the main part of the run down city. A man is working on a car when they run towards him. "Go! Take the gas!" Tom yells as the man stands up. "Bryan, mechs! Stay down!" Tom yells to another of the men as they run as fast as they can to the man who is coming out of an alley, but sadly it's too late. Just before they can reach him he is gunned down.
"Shit," Valentine says, backing up into Tom.
Tom leads them to the side of the building and looks at Valentine. "Get the food." Valentine's the smallest of the three, only 5'3" and very skinny and lean, making her the fastest.
"Got it." She waits a moment before running. She grabs the bag the guy dropped before running back to Hal and Tom who is pushing the cart of food. "Help?" Hal stuffs it into her backpack before going back to pushing the cart. She has an army backpack that she found on a dead soldier before she met the Masons. She has kept it all this time, finding it to be useful when getting supplies. Her bag is already pretty full with supplies that are enough for the kids at camp.
The three weave around cars, running as quick as they can, as they hear the mechs behind them. They pass some of their fallen soldiers before coming around some more cars. Valentine keeps up with the guys before seeing the meck's gunpoint on Hal. "Shit, Tom." Tom sees what she is talking about and pushes Hal out of the way just in time, while Valentine drops to the ground. The food is blasted by the gun instead, causing her to groan. She scurries quickly over to it, keeping low from the meck.
"Vale!" Tom shouts, but she waves him off. She grabs her backpack and stuffs it to the brim. "Forget about the food." He grabs her arm and pulls her up just as she closes her bag.
"Fine, I just wanted my bag to be full at the least." She says as he pulls her down the road. She breaks from his grip and runs beside him. "Don't need to man handle me, Tom. I'm following don't worry." She says as the three run down the road.
Valentine drops to the ground as a blast goes off. "We need to hurry." She says as she looks back at the burning car. She looks forward at the gate and sighs. "We only had a little bit before we reached the gate." She looks back at the food with a frown.
"Don't even think about it, Vale. It's not worth it." Tom says.
"Food is always worth it."
"Here they come! Cover them!" One of the soldiers from on top of the gate yells.
"Vale, don't do it," Tom says as she gets up. "Vale, I'm warning you." She looks at the food and then at Tom.
"We have people that need it."
"It's not worth your life. We have enough in your bag for now."
"No, we don't."
"Vale."
"Short bursts!" Another soldier yells. "Short bursts!"
"Vale!" Hal yells, grabbing her hand.
"Let go of me, Hal-
"Forget the food. I lost a brother, I'm not loosing a sister!" He yells as he grabs her hand and runs for the gate with her.
They make it into the gate with Tom behind them just in time for it to be blown up. Valentine screams as she is thrown to the ground. "Get up!" Tom yells to Hal and Valentine before pulling them both up. The three begin to limp run as they hear a growl behind them. "Hal, Vale, in here," Tom says as he drags them into a ruined shop.
Vale stumbles into the room with Hal, both a bit out of it from the blast. "Skitters," Tom tells them as he pushes them down below a desk gently.
Valentine covers her ears as she hears the screeching noise before watching a soldier get gunned down. Valentine closes her eyes as she hears Hal. "That's Jerrod's cousin," Hal says, moving to get up, but Tom stops him.
"No. No, don't." Tom says as Hal struggles to get up to save him. "No, no, no, no. No. No." He says. Tom holds Hal back as they watch the soldier screaming in pain. "Shh, shh, shh," Tom whispers as they watch a skitter walk towards the soldier. The skitter has multiple legs that are bent along like a grasshopper's and has a brown thick skin with a pincher mouth. The thing is beyond ugly and ten times scarier.
"That's Jerrod's cousin," Hal whispers.
"He's already dead, Hal. You'd never make it in time." Valentine says as they watch the soldier get surrounded and pulled on like a thing of play doe.
"Come on. Come on." Tom says to the two teens before pulling them back from the scene. "Get up!" He growls to Hal who is busy staring shocked at the scene before him. Valentine has seen many of her friends and family get murdered before her eyes despite it being awful to watch she can handle it better than Hal. She tries not to watch, but even if she does she still is able to snap out of it and run.
They hear the sound of the ships with the skitters before hurrying out the back way of the building. "Woah, Woah, Woah," Hal says as the soldiers point guns at them.
"Mechs-front." Tom pants. "The Colton Street barricade's down. Skitters, too." He tells them.
"They're up to the common. Both barricades there are gone." Weaver, a soldier in their group, says as he walks towards them. "We're falling back. Back bay is lost."
"They take back bay, they take the city."
"No kidding. porter's calling us in." He looks back at the soldiers. "Let's go." The soldiers and they take off running as silently as they can. Valentine freezes in her steps as she sees one of their ships fly over and blow the city up.
"Oh my god." She breaths out. The wind begins to blow their way, howling from the pressure of the blast, and the electricity crackles.
"South Boston! South Boston! South Boston!" They turn to see a girl running towards them.
"Quiet!" Tom hisses, shaking his head at the scared dark skinned girl.
"They got South Boston! Skitters and mecks." She says.
"Rear guard, come on!" Weaver orders, causing them all to run from the city once more.
They don't stop moving until they reach camp, which is in the middle of the forest. The slow to walking as they move through the camp, the soldiers watching them and the entrance.
"We holding?" Jimmy, the youngest of the soldiers, asks. "Who'd we lose?"
"Captain Jameson, Jerrod's cousin, and a bunch of guys I didn't know," Hal tells him, finally out of his funk, and walking up the steps.
"Jameson's dead? Who's gonna command the 2nd?" Jimmy asks.
No one answers Jimmy as they walk into the building where everyone is. They walk through crowds of families, all huddled around fires for warmth, and all of them dirty and hungry. Valentine keeps her eyes forward, ignoring the scene of people being carried onto medical beds. Being a soldier in this new world is the hardest thing.
Valentine pauses beside Tom as she sees the main area. The doctor and her assistant are busy serving what little food they have, while the kids are sitting sleeping. "It's always harder for them." She whispers, her eyes landing on Tom's youngest son, Matt. She squeezes Tom's hand before starting over towards the doctor.
"I managed to grab a bag of supplies. It isn't much." The doctor looks up at her sighs.
"It's better than nothing. Thank you, Vale. Have some food, you deserve it."
"No, give it to the kids. They need it more."
"Vale, I already fed them. You had a long day, eat. You need to keep your energy up." She hands a bowl of food to Valentine, causing her to sigh.
"Thank you, Dr. Glass." Valentine sits down, eating the measly soup as Tom walks over to Dr. Glass with his son over his shoulder. She watches as they talk, her handing him a pile of paper before Hal joins her.
"Dr. Glass says he's handling things better." Valentine doesn't need to know who he is talking about, it's always Matt. Matt has had it rough especially after loosing his mother.
"That's good." Valentine hands the bowl to Hal, but he shakes his head.
"Eat it yourself. I'll have some later."
"Hal-
"Vale, you're skin and bones. Eat. We need you at your full strength." She sighs and begins eating the soup as Hal leans back in his seat.
"Tom, Tom." The two glance over as a soldier hurries in. "Porter wants to see you." Valentine watches as he hands Matt over to Hal and walking out of the room.
"What do you think it's about?" Valentine asks Hal.
"Probably need to discuss regrouping and a new strategy." He tells her as she finishes her soup. "How about we head out, I'll lay Matt down in his bed, and we get to work on some things." She nods as she hands the bowl back to Dr. Glass and heads out with Hal.
The two work outside, Hal carrying boxes of ammo, while Valentine cleans her gun while listening to the guys. "Okay, so, these guys," Anthony begins, a soldier also apart of their group. "From the 5th mass, okay, down in Dorchester-uh, out of ammo except for, what, these two bullets in a clip in an old .45 automatic?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Click says. "Right?"
"What then?" Dai asks.
"Yeah, come on, what happened?" Jimmy asks. The four of them were getting the car ready with the big gun.
"Okay, so, the guy, you know, he stands there like bait, right? Skitter moved in."
"Right," Click says.
"Other guy from behind the dumpster-
"Boom!" Click and Anthony says together.
"Headshot, point-blank range," Anthony says. "You're dead."
"Dead." Click laughs. "That's one way to do it. I'd do it like that."
"Man, you would wet yourself." Anthony jokes with his brother.
"Fine, long as I get that head shot in." Valentine shakes her head in disgust.
"Alright, man." They chuckle.
"What are you looking at?" Valentine looks up to see Hal staring off into the sky.
"Hal?" She questions.
"That thing hasn't moved since yesterday," Anthony says as he and Valentine stand on either side of Hal, staring up at the alien beacon.
"I was just wondering how to get at it," Hal says. "You know, find my way inside, head upstairs, find the lizard in charge, and just kick some alien ass." Dai stands on the other side of Valentine and Click on the other side of Anthony, while Jimmy stands in the back of the five of them.
"You're crazy," Valentine says. "There's no way to get at it."
"Personally, I like the idea of seven or eight truckloads of C-4 driven in simultaneously from different directions. Maybe a couple of coming in on boats across the harbor. Yeah. Boom. Yeah." Dai says, causing Valentine to roll her eyes.
"Men." She mumbles.
"How do the drivers get out of there?" Jimmy asks.
"No, no, no, no," Tom says as he starts over to them. "You got it all wrong. Outside of that thing's gonna be like a fortress." He says as he walks towards them, the group turning to look at him. "You need to get inside-a trojan horse. Or, like the World War 1 sappers, tunnel underneath it, plant the biggest pile of TNT you've ever seen right under the center of it. Or like the Romans at Pontus when they were-
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. There you go, Professor." Anthony says.
"Professor Kick-ass!" Click yells.
"Yeah, well, tomorrow, we kick ass... or maybe the day after tomorrow." They fall silent as they all take in what Tom said. "Alright, for now, let's get that .50 squared away, get some sleep. We move out in the morning." Everyone leaves Tom except Hal and Valentine.
"Think that'd work-heading underground?"
"Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it has throughout history." Valentine smiles as she looks at father and son. "Alexander leading the Macedonians." Hal smiles at his father, causing Tom to look at him. "What?"
"I don't know. you think, dad, maybe you could, uh, ease up on the history lessons- with the guys around, at least." Valentine snorts at Hal and looks at the beacon.
"Got it." He says as Hal chuckles.
"Alright." Hal steps back and heads over to the guys.
"Don't worry about tomorrow, Tom, everything will work out," Valentine tells him.
"Mmm."
"I'm going to finish cleaning my gun, maybe help the guys out or make it harder for them, and then I'm heading to bed." Tom smiles and nods as Valentine says that. "See you in the morning." She wraps her arms around him, hugging him with a smile on her face.
"See you later, Valentine."